VOICE It’s not just what people hear when you speak. Mrs. Donohue English 8

What is Voice?  Your writing style  Your personality  What makes the writing come alive for a reader  A form of creative expression

Let’s Practice  By using our physical voice  As a class, we will try this together.  One person will say, “I want to go.” Say it while trying to communicate a specific emotion.  Think not just about how you use your voice and inflection, but also how you use your body language.

As humans...  We have a lot of experience using our physical selves to express what we mean and what we want to say, and we practice constantly with how to engage our audience.  It is harder to do that in writing. It just is. However, it is essential if we ever want to be considered good writers (and we all do).

Let’s look at a written example. On July 18, 1998, the best thing to ever happen to humanity occurred. John Jacob Smith was born. It all began in Pensacola Naval Hospital, where John was brought into this world. Despite the fact that some (namely his older sister) said he looked like a “fat, egg shaped, rotisserie chicken”, he was destined for greatness. However, this great individual’s life was paved with hardships. At the early age of 1, John moved from the beauty of Pensacola, to the drab landscape of Beale AFB.

Here’s the “opposite.” Mary Elizabeth Howard was born on May 2, Her parents were excited to have her. She had a cute face. People said. She had a brother and a sister. They were older. She liked cereal the most when she was growing up. She also liked fruit. Her favorite was pears. She once fell down off a slide and broke her arm. Her parents were scared. She cried a lot. She had to wear a cast for 6 weeks.

What is the difference between the two?  One should reach out and grab you and make you want to keep reading.  The other isn’t necessarily boring, but it’s writing you won’t remember. We want to create writing that others will remember. Otherwise, what is the point?

So, what can we do to create voice?  Sentence variety Short, simple sentences Parenthetical asides Parallel sentence structure Using ellipses (…) and dashes (--) to communicate meaning  Sentence beginnings  Details (using all 5 senses) (think STEAL)  Giving reactions and emotions

Examples  Michael rolled his eyes. “No, just... Listen.” He couldn't blame them for having doubts, but he was starting to get frustrated that he couldn’t get his story out (The Eye of Minds, 37).  Michael and his friends—floating, frozen, silent—waited (The Eye of Minds, 40).  “N-no. I don’t know. I feel lightheaded, but not—” She stopped herself (Cinder, 55).

Examples Continued  She was on the other side of the kitchen counter from him, and grabbed onto the edge for support. She didn’t want to tell him. She couldn’t. She had to (Blackout, 67).  Wham! The ball came screaming in at light speed, hitting him full in the face (The Hypnotists, 167).  At the end of the hallway, a huge book, bigger than a dictionary, contained the names of the 103,000 dead from the Netherlands in the Holocaust (Only 5,000 of the deported Dutch Jews, a wall label explained, had survived. 5,000 Otto Franks.) (The Fault in our Stars, 201).

Examples continued  Finally, I stood at the far end of the hall and stared at the door to the only room I hadn’t checked yet: Jonathan’s office. I should really, really go back to bed. But as I hesitated... Drip (Famous Last Words, 61).  A flash of light flickered in my peripheral vision. An empty ache grew in the pit of my stomach. I could feel the walls closing in on me. I had to get out of the house (Famous Last Words, 39).

There’s more!  Adding dialogue that: Adds to the characters Adds to the plot Moves the story along  Direct / indirect characterization  Flashbacks  Developing real characters  Try modeling after a writer that you like / enjoy  But in the end, remember that YOUR voice is YOUR voice and it needs to feel real to you.